E. L. Konigsburg (1930-2013)

We were very sad to hear about the recent passing of E. L. Konigsburg. Konigsburg was the author of Newbery Award-winners From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler and The View from Saturday, along with Jennifer, Hecate, MacBeth, William McKinley, and Me, Elizabeth, which won a Newbery Honor the same year as Mixed-Up Files won the Medal — an unprecedented (and unduplicated) feat.

Konigsburg never wrote down to her readers. Many of her characters are sophisticated, intelligent, witty, unique, and savvy. She wrote about wannabe-witches (Jennifer), restless suburban kids (Mixed-Up Files), Jewish boys playing baseball (About the B’nai Bagels), historical women (A Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver, The Second Mrs. Giaconda), possibly-con-artist women (Father’s Arcane Daughter), outcasts, smarty-pantses, heroes — the list goes on.

Elissa Gershowitz is senior editor of The Horn Book Magazine and online content editor for The Horn Book, Inc. She is a current member of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee.

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